Plan your Zoom session

1. Have a lesson plan

Having a lesson plan that is adapted for Zoom is key for a successful online class, as the experience is very different from running a face-to-face class.

Consider the structure of your session and how to facilitate student engagement and interactions effectively. Class activities tend to take longer over Zoom than in face-to-face classes, so you may need to include fewer activities than usual, or make them shorter, and shift some of the lesson to an asynchronous mode. 

Introductory ice-breaker exercises take up time, but are important for student engagement and encouraging connection between your students.

Divide your session into 15 minute sections, and try not to speak for more than 10 minutes at a time. If the session is longer than an hour, you could include a 5 minute break in the middle so students can briefly relax and recharge, enabling them to focus more on your tutorial discussions.

2. Communicate with your students before class to set expectations and offer assistance

At the start of your session, set out some housekeeping rules , such as when and how students will be invited to contribute. You can also download and send out this PDF Zoom guide for students in advance to help your students with the basics of using Zoom. 

If you would like students to access links during the session, send the links beforehand. Students may not be able to find links sent in the chat or access the chat after your session.

3. If you want to facilitate group work, familiarise yourself with Zoom’s Breakout Rooms feature

The Breakout rooms feature can be used to facilitate smaller group discussions and activities within the session. Consider how long you want students to spend in the Breakout rooms and make sure you have clear instructions set out for what you want students to do or discuss in the rooms. Take a look at the LX resource on managing participants in Zoom rooms to learn how to run Breakout rooms and, if required, pre-assign participants into groups.

4. Prepare for questions

Decide how you want to manage student questions during your session. You can request that students use the ‘raise hand’ function to indicate when they have a question, or suggest that questions be posted in the chat to be answered at a designated time. 

5. Assign co-hosts and chat monitors

Assign a chat-leader if you can, to support you in the meeting, either a colleague who can join a meeting with you, or a student delegated to collect and curate questions and issues in the text chat. So that you can bring ‘text queries or comments’ (efficiently) into your discussion. Follow the instructions in the LX resource for managing alternative hosts, co-hosts, and schedulers in Zoom. If you don’t have any colleagues that are available to help, you can lodge a ticket to the LX.lab team.

6. Ensure your lesson is accessible 

Adapting your session to meet the accessibility needs of your students is important, and inclusive facilitation will improve the overall experience for all of your students. Find out about the best practice steps to facilitate accessible online classes.

7. Prepare to record your session

Consider whether you need to record your Zoom session, and bear in mind that recordings can take a long time (up to 24 hours) to process in times of high demand. If you decide you do want to record the session, it’s best practice to make the students aware beforehand or at the start of the session. Only the main meeting will be recorded, not the chat or Breakout rooms.

8. Set up in a quiet workspace

It is recommended to use a laptop or computer with an inbuilt camera to access Zoom. You can use the inbuilt computer microphone and speaker, but if possible use an external microphone and headphones to maximise sound quality and reduce the risk of audio feedback.

Select a quiet, well-lit space with a stable internet connection to run your Zoom session to ensure that students can see and hear you clearly. Positioning yourself in front of a plain backdrop, such as a blank wall, is best to reduce visual distractions. You can also use the Zoom virtual background feature to replace your background with a photo of your choice.

9. Have a test run

Have a few practice sessions with colleagues to familiarise yourself with Zoom before you run a tutorial with students. Practice sessions can also be useful for ensuring your audio, video, and internet connection are working as required. Test out different settings, sharing your screen, and writing on the whiteboard. The more you use Zoom, the more proficient you will be when you start running live sessions.